Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Summer 2025 TBR

Happy Top Ten Tuesday… on a Wednesday lol. I haven’t done one of these in a while, but I love to blog hop people’s TBRs so I wanted to jump back in this week. I obviously meant to share this yesterday but honestly, any day of the week is a good day to look at lists of books!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl with a new topic every week for book bloggers to chat about. This week’s topic is books on my summer 2025 TBR (in no particular order).

1. Butter by Asako Yuzuki

I love getting lost in a good thriller on the beach, so when a friend gifted me a copy of this book I just knew it would keep me company in the summer! I’m really curious about this. It seems to have been everywhere since its release and I’m looking forward to discovering what all the hype is about.

The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story.

There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?

Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, “The Konkatsu Killer”, Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.

2. Hive by D. L. Orton

I’ve talked about this one before during the blog tour but as it’s still patiently waiting on my bedside table, I definitely want to pick it up soon. Especially since so many fellow bloggers keep raving about it!

What if saving the future meant rewriting the past?
 
In a dying world overrun by microdrones, humanity’s last survivors cling to life inside the Eden-17 biodome. Isabelle Sanborn knows her time is running out, but one desperate plan might give humanity a second chance. With the help of Madders, an enigmatic AI built from the memories of a brilliant physicist, Isabelle sends Diego Nadales—the love of her life—35 years into the past. His mission? To change the course of history and prevent their world’s collapse.
 
When Diego arrives in the vibrant yet fragile Main Timeline, he’s forced to confront ghosts of the past, including a younger, ambitious version of Isabelle. As he battles to shape a better future, Diego must navigate a delicate web of relationships and events without destroying the very fabric of time.
 
Brimming with suspense, heart-pounding action, and a poignant love story that transcends time, Madders of Time – Book One is a breathtaking science fiction adventure. Award-winning author DL Orton weaves a tale that explores sacrifice, resilience, and the timeless power of love.
 
Fans of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Dark Matter will find themselves captivated by this unforgettable journey through parallel worlds and intertwining destinies.
 
The clock is ticking. Can love survive the collapse of time itself?

3. The Coffee Shop Masquerade by T. A. Morton

The lovely folks at Earnshaw Books were kind enough to send me a digital copy of this book and I honestly cannot wait to dive in, as it sounds exactly like the kind of book I might enjoy. Also, I haven’t read many books set in Hong Kong (or possibly any, actually) so I’m really happy to add that to my list of places I visited through books!

A mysterious mask abandoned in a Hong Kong coffee shop eavesdrops on the lives of those who enter, asking, who are we beneath our masks?

The Coffee Shop Masquerade is a captivating exploration of transient lives seeking meaning amid everyday encounters, much like the alluring cup of coffee that unites and intrigues us all.

As the enigmatic forces inspired by the Tao Te Ching loom over them, choices must be made, secrets revealed, and unexpected bonds forged—all under the watchful gaze of a mysterious mask.

4. Of High Kings and Mages by Jenn Lees

Summers are also made for light reading, and what could be a better way to bear the heat than spending time with dragons? You’ve definitely seen me talking about this series before, and I’m looking forward to catching up with Arlan and Rhiannon again. If you missed it, you can find my thoughts on book one in the series here and on book two here.

A Warrior King to protect and a dragon to trust.
A daughter to recover and a wife to forgive.
A magic to embrace and a love to encounter.

Arlan’s dragon, Drayce, thwarts a daring kidnap of Rhiannon by a beast controlled by Ciarán Gallawain’s powerful mage, Bram.

Questioning whether Dál Gaedhle is truly safe for their baby, Rhiannon takes Rhynne through a portal to our world, where she entrusts George for her safe keeping until the war with Lord Ciarán is over and won.

On Rhiannon’s return, Arlan, distraught at her actions, orders his faithful sword-brother, Bàn—a non-believer in magic—through the portal, trusting he will retrieve Rhynne. Bàn arrives in our world to discover Rhynne is now an attractive young woman proficient in the martial arts.

Thrown together, they discover Rhynne’s special gifting… and their undeniable attraction to each other.

Meanwhile Arlan must draw on all his reserves to counter the upcoming confrontation with Ciarán Gallawain, who endangers the life of his people and the world of Dál Cruinne itself.

But the nearer conflict between Rhiannon and Arlan threatens their love like no war ever could.

5. The Magical Legacy of the Ryūjin by Stephan Lethaus

Speaking of dragons, there’s a second title featuring them on my summer reading list! One can never have too many dragons, methinks.

The Magical Legacy of the Ryūjin is a fantastic tale of true friendship set in an exciting world brimming with untamed magic, fascinating dragons, and mystical creatures. It is the captivating start to the Ryūjin Saga.

In the medieval county of Druidsham, characters collide who couldn’t be more different: Rob, the lovable stable boy from Castle Skargness; Mi Lou, the enchanting system analyst from Vancouver in the year 2055; and Fuku Riu, a young, impetuous forest dragon from an ancient and noble dragon lineage.

The tragic events during the fantastic dragon tournament force our heroes to flee north together.

6. The Callas Imprint by Sophia Lambton

I love diving into new releases almost as much as I like diving into the swimming pool, but summers are also a good time to catch up on some backlist titles and longer reads. I’ve been meaning to read this Callas biography for a while now, so maybe this summer I’ll actually do it.

Coating opera’s roles in opulence, Maria Callas (1923-1977) is a lyrical enigma.

Seductress, villainess, and victor, queen and crouching slave, she is a gallery of guises instrumentalists would kill to engineer… made by a single voice. But while her craftsmanship has stood the test of time, Callas’ image has contested defamation at the hands of saboteurs of beauty.

Twelve years in the making, this voluminous labour of love explores the singer with the reverence she dealt her heroines. The Callas Imprint: A Centennial Biography reaps never-before-seen correspondence and archival documents worldwide to illustrate the complex of their multi-faceted creator – closing in on her self-contradictions, self-descriptions, attitudes and habits with empathic scrutiny. It swivels readers through the singer’s on- and offstage scenes and flux of fears and dreams… the double life of all performers.

In its unveiling of the everyday it rolls a vivid film reel starring friends and foes and vignettes that make up life. It’s verity. It’s meritable storytelling. Not unlike the Callas art.

7. Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa

Another book that has been on my TBR for literal years. Definitely one I want to finally read this year, to keep learning and talking about Palestine and its continued oppression.

In the refugee camp of Jenin, Amal is born into a world of loss—of home, country, and heritage. Her Palestinian family was driven from their ancestral village by the newly formed state of Israel in 1948. As the villagers fled that day, Amal’s older brother, just a baby, was stolen away by an Israeli soldier. In Jenin, the adults subsist on memories, waiting to return to the homes they love. Amal’s mother has walled away her heart with grief, and her father labors all day. But in the fleeting peacefulness of dawn, he reads to his young daughter daily, and she can feel his love for her, “as big as the ocean and all its fishes.” On those quiet mornings, they dream together of a brighter future.

This is Amal’s story, the story of one family’s struggle and survival through over sixty years of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, carrying us from Jenin to Jerusalem, to Lebanon and the anonymity of America. It is a story shaped by scars and fear, but also by the transformative intimacy of marriage and the fierce protectiveness of motherhood. It is a story of faith, forgiveness, and life-sustaining love.

Mornings in Jenin is haunting and heart-wrenching, a novel of vital contemporary importance. Lending human voices to the headlines, it forces us to take a fresh look at one of the defining political conflicts of our lifetimes.

8. The Phoenix Keeper by S. A. MacLean

On a lighter note, some cosiness might be warranted, given the state of the world at the moment, so it might be the right time to finally pick this up!

As head phoenix keeper at a world-renowned zoo for magical creatures, Aila’s childhood dream of conserving critically endangered firebirds seems closer than ever. There’s just one glaring caveat: her zoo’s breeding program hasn’t functioned for a decade. When a tragic phoenix heist sabotages the flagship initiative at a neighboring zoo, Aila must prove her derelict facilities are fit to take the reins.

But saving an entire species from extinction requires more than stellar animal handling skills. Carnivorous water horses, tempestuous thunderhawks, mischievous dragons… Aila has no problem wrangling beasts. Inspiring zoo patrons? That’s another story. Mustering the courage to ask for help from the hotshot griffin keeper at the zoo’s most popular exhibit? Virtually impossible.

Especially when that hotshot griffin keeper happens to be her arch-rival from college: Luciana, an annoyingly brooding and insufferable know-it-all with the grace of a basilisk and the face of a goddess, who’s convinced that Aila’s beloved phoenix would serve their cause better as an active performer rather than a passive conservation exhibit.

With the world watching and the threat of poachers looming, Aila’s success isn’t only a matter of keeping her job: the future of a species depends on her.

9. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune

To keep that cosy feeling going, I’ll put this forward again. If you’ve been around here a while you’ll know that I periodically put this book on my TBR and then end up not reading it – and I honestly have no idea why, since everything about this says I’ll love it. Will this be the time I finally succeed in reading this book?

A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.

Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.

10. Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang

I’m going full circle and wrapping this list up with another thriller (coincidentally also with a yellow cover). I heard the presentation for this book at Bloomsbury’s Global Big Night In a few months back, and I’ve been looking forward to reading this since!

Julie Chan has nothing. Her twin sister has everything. Except a pulse.

Julie Chan, a supermarket cashier with nothing to lose, finds herself thrust into the glamorous yet perilous world of her late twin sister, Chloe VanHuusen, a popular influencer. Separated at a young age, the identical twins were polar opposites and rarely spoke, except for one viral video that Chloe initiated (Finding My Long-Lost Twin And Buying Her A House #EMOTIONAL). When Julie discovers Chloe’s lifeless body under mysterious circumstances, she seizes the chance to live the life she’s always envied.

Transforming into Chloe is easier than expected. Julie effortlessly adopts Chloe’s luxurious influencer life, complete with designer clothes, a meticulous skincare routine, and millions of adoring followers. However, Julie soon realizes that Chloe’s seemingly picture-perfect life was anything but.

Haunted by Chloe’s untimely death and struggling to fit into the privileged influencer circle, Julie faces mounting challenges during a weeklong island retreat with Chloe’s exclusive group of influencer friends. As events spiral out of control, Julie uncovers the sinister forces that may have led to her sister’s demise and realizes she might be the next target.

That’s it for today! We all know how bad I am at following through on TBRs, so whether I’ll actually read these books is anyone’s guess, but they’re definitely all books I’m excited for!

Have you read any of these? What’s on your summer TBR?
Let’s chat in the comments!